thank you all for such an overwhelming patronage and encouragement.
Your ever increasing support, enthusiasm and interest in the magazine have
boosted our confidence manifold to
go full throttle in showcasing contemporary English Literature across the
globe. We are elated to have so many
likeminded people coming along in our odyssey.
Though the traditional medium of printed books, magazines,
newspapers still occupy the neighborhood book stands and
stores, the publishing choice today is heavily tilted towards the
digital medium. With increasing popularity of the digital medium over the classical physical medium, it has been a challenge
to create a specific space for Storizen in this crowded space. In
this issue’s photo story, we have endeavored to capture this new
Editor
age digital literature medium in “Invasion of E-readers”.
Victor Basu
We have featured the young and dynamic Indian-American
Sub Editors
best-selling author Tulika Mehrotra in this issue’s cover story.
Mukesh Rijhwani
She has shared her experience about life and literature in a very
Sumantra Chowdhury
candid conversation. She has also shared insights from her newSanghamitra Guha
ly released book “Crashing B-Town”.
In this issue also we continue to sail along trying to cover all
Trainee Sub Editor
aspects of the book writing business from tips on actually getNidhi Mathur
ting the story penned to getting them published and read. MarCopy Editors
keting plays an important role in this lifecycle and so we have
Asmita Sarkar
brought to you in this issue, Founder and CMO of Market My
Saurabh Chawla
Book, Lipika Bhushan’s in-depth writing on book marketing
strategies.
Photo Editor
Along with our regular sections, we are delighted to feature Neloy Bandyopadhyay
Shradha Sharma, Founder and Chief Editor of Yourstory.in, in
Designer
our star reader section this time.
Amit Mitra
Please do send us your suggestions, contributions and ofcourse
your encouragement as always through emails, writes ups or
phone calls.

TEAM

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24

34
40

44

60
74
66
70

56
58
57

03
48
06
82

20

16

12

78
80
storizen.com | August | 5

Piyush Jha’s second novel, the crime-thriller Compass Box Killer was
launched recently on an extremely rainy evening in Mumbai.
Despite traffic jams that went on for kilometers, the venue, Crossword Bookstore, At Kemp’s Corner Mumbai was full with eager readers who wanted to
hear what the Bestselling author of Mumbaistan had to say about his new
offering.
The Chief Guest, Madhur Bhandarkar arrived in time despite travelling from
the far-flung suburb of Andheri. Other guest like actress Suchitra Pillai, Ad
Filmmaker Kailash Surendranath, Model Raman Lamba, Filmmaker Shona
Urvashi and fashion photographer Shilpa Mukherjee soon arrived along with
a group of excited readers.
After the introductions were made Piyush and Madhur engaged in an informative conversation about crime in Mumbai, fiction in books and films and
also about their fascination with Mumbai’s underbelly. The conversation was
replete with insider nuggets as Piyush and Madhur, both fellow filmmakers
shared anecdotes and about what inspired them about the seamy side of the
metropolis they both love. A lively Q&A followed with almost 30 to 40 questions being flung towards both Piyush and Madhur. The two men took their
time, making sure that every question was answered to each person’s satisfaction.
The evening drew to a close and Madhur took his leave but most people still
hung on getting their books signed and engaging in further discussion with
Piyush, which he was happy to indulge in.
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It was the winter of 2007 when, as my boss puts it, I ap-

peared on the horizon of publishing. Having dealt with all
kinds of product categories including ones such as telecom
where schemes had to be worked out and offline and online
material had to be reproduced overnight, it was a very different industry for me but I guess the sheer love of books
and the fact that there was so much more to do in marketing is probably what made me stick to it.
Then and now:
Till a few years ago marketing in publishing was about reviews and interviews, print marketing material such as
posters and bookmarks and lavish parties or book launches.
The traditional form of marketing continued to address the
closely knit reading and writing community. Suddenly with
the advent of online players, the growing difficulties for
brick and mortar stores and looming prospect of e-publishing and self publishing, forced the publishers to innovate
and open up their communication to a wider set of readers
whose demands were very different from those of the existing ones. This reaching out to them needed to draw campaigns and communication appealing to the masses.
A lot more was added to traditional marketing activities.
Something as inexpensive as the props to improve the
visibility at the retail ends to the expensive options of advertising in print, on the net and even on television. The
campaigns became larger and more ambitious. The use of
promo videos on OOH, LiveMedia and billboards across
the country were the outdoor advertising options explored.
Sampling got introduced outside of the extracts of the book
pages that media carries.
More recently the changes have been quicker, drastic and
lot more challenging for marketeers. E-books have entered
storizen.com | August | 13

the space which has led to new ideas
not just for physical books but that for
the big world of endless opportunities
online.

has resulted in higher spends.

Flooding Markets:

With self publishing becoming popular and the option of e-publishing for
Drawing segments:
smart devices and print on demand
The online space has resulted in endless becoming easily accessible for writers
opportunities and making the world
the market is flooded with books. Evborderless thus widening of the target
eryone is learning and picking tailor
audience. It is therefore essential to
made ideas from marketing of some
segment your target well and then tarhighly successful books and using them
get your segment for a certain category, for their own books. Every writer today,
genre and title.
new or established is forced to put muscle behind his or her book. In such a situation there is tremendous pressure to
Shrinking Spaces:
keep innovating and finding new ideas,
While we are stepping into virtual
vehicles and spaces to stand out in the
world the physical space for books is
shrinking. Print media is cutting down market.
the book sections. Our favorite book
shows on television (not that there are
Big Pockets:
many) are taking a break. At retail end It is a known fact that some of the
both brick and mortar stores and onmost successful best selling writers
line stores are feeling the brunt of rising today claiming top spots in best selloverhead costs and flood of books from ers list have put in huge amounts of
big, small and self publishers. A marmoney behind their books. Amounts
keteer thus needs to keep fighting for
that have been at times impossible for
space and constantly be on a lookout
marketeers, working in the biggest of
for new spaces and visibility.
publishing houses, to budget for any of
their lead titles. It is a challenge because
marketing budgets are under pressure
Rising Costs:
in publishing as corporatization is enFor physical retail chains, space was
tering the writing world which still is
always a constraint. Over the last few
years they have commercialized all the minuscule in comparison to what other
industries budget and spend on marketoptions that were earlier considered
as a given. Right from print marketing ing of their products.
material to windows at the book stores
are available on rent. Content being the Author Management and Book
king in online was welcome by them
Marketing Plans:
but now a price tag has been put on
One of the biggest challenges, that has
things such as banners, mailers etc. This
storizen.com | August | 14

and will always be part and parcel of
being a book marketeer is to manage
your authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s expectations. While it is
important for writer and his marketeer
to work closely on thinking of the way
ahead, it is also increasingly becoming
clear that it is important to draw plans
specific to a bookâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s requirement within
the budgets allocated.
The industry is undergoing a change
and one needs to keep a close watch on
this change. Marketing has been one of
the key contributors to the success of
any product and is becoming important in raising the bar in publishing.

Only those who have their fingers on
the pulse of the market will survive and
grow.
The contributor of this article was the
Head of Marketing at HarperCollins
India before she found her calling in
working with those who want to give
their books the best shot at becoming
bestsellers. Her venture MarketMyBook is first of its kind book marketing
consultancy firm providing offline and
online marketing solutions to writers
and publishers alike.

Lipika was the Head of Marketing at HarperCollins India before she found her
calling in working with those who want to give their books the best shot at becoming bestsellers. Her venture MarketMyBook - www.marketmybook.in is
first of its kind book marketing consultancy firm providing offline and online
marketing solutions to writers and publishers alike.

storizen.com | August | 15

My first book ‘Just Married, Please Excuse’ was published last year - the entire

experience of writing, getting published, and subsequently finishing a second novel has made the last couple of years quite a roller coaster ride, wherein the learning has been immense.
This is a summary of what I’ve gathered so far. And while I get a lot of requests
from other writers about the process, my first clarification is that it’s a process of
learning and I’m still new. Nevertheless, here’s a perspective on what I consider
important and had wished I had known earlier – five of these are on the process
of writing, while the remaining five are on what follows.

On Writing
1:
Focus on the story- a protagonist, a goal, an obstacle and a resolution.
Those are the basics. It works every time. I had trouble getting published until the
time I focused on this.
2:
Your First Draft is your Own– another mistake that I made was

asking for feedback on my stories just a page into them! Sort of checking whether
I was on the ‘right track’ – the feedback from well-meaning friends and relatives
(hint: my poor spouse) would cause me to huff out my cheeks and give up all too
soon.

3:
Don’t aim for perfection in that first draft- the important

thing is to get something out. The most useful phrase I came across was ‘Making

Mud’ or ‘Laying the tracks’ –
it’s alright even if you know it’s
not your best. You can come
back to it later. The first task
on hand is to just get that first
draft out.

4:
Character

something that my
Growth–

editor Karthika VK probed me
on, and which really helped
to develop my second book
‘Sorting Out Sid.’ – she really
liked the first draft of the story,
but something was making her
uncomfortable and she asked
me ‘But how are the characters
really growing in the process
of the story?’ It struck me as
a subtle point, and one that
doesn’t really get covered when
you’re focusing on the main
elements of the story. A hero in
a fable may be a hero from the beginning, but when you’re writing stories about
characters you hope will resonate with real people, this makes a lot of sense. I reworked it and was miles happier with the finished version of SOS.

5:
Keep reading, keep writing–
I’ve
never had any formal training

in writing, but I’ve always been a voracious reader. Stephen King in ‘On Writing’
talks about the importance of Reading a Lot, and Writing a Lot. It really helps a
great deal, especially when you pick up on your own errors (mine was a tendency
to use slightly longer sentences than necessary, and I’m working on cutting out
those damned adverbs!) Writing is an important support to making your story
comprehensible and in fact, a pleasure to read. I know there are successful writers
out there proudly claiming they hardly ever read. No. No-no-no-no-NO. Reading
often, and writing often will make your writing better and that’s a huge part of
what it’s all about. Or it should be, anyway.

On Publishing and All that Follows
1:
Be Patient– let’s face it. As a first time author, you’re one of many, many

people that publishers deal with on a regular basis. So it’s natural that there’s going
to be a waiting period when it comes to getting a revert on your first manuscript.
I’ve been asked ‘but how loooong?’ – all I can say is that if your work is good, it
will get noticed. Some people take days, some weeks and some months to revert.
Incidentally – I ended up going with the Harpers team even though their revert
came in after some others.
once
you’ve accomplished the
2:
Listen carefully to the feedback–
monumental task of getting your first manuscript out – sure, it’s not easy hearing
about the things that are wrong with it. But if you listen carefully to the feedback
from people who are the experts in the business – that is, the editorial team that’s
been nice enough to respond to you- and actually work on building in their feedback, your chances of getting published are higher. Note – this does not mean
compromising on your values. I was asked to fictionalize my first book, but I went
with just some replotting and exaggeration because I was listening to what the
editors wanted – it worked.
3:
Get your expectations right– this is an important one which I

learned only much later. Related to the point that there are so many authors out
there publishing each day, it’s not an easy market, and if you’re expecting to become a super-success overnight- chances are it’s not gonna happen. My editor
tells me stories about many authors who lament the fact that they’re not selling
like the biggies. Well, there it is. The point is – do you still love writing enough to
keep at it and expand your own audience bit by bit, and keep writing better and
better books with the passage of time? Yes? Great. Keep that in mind every time
you feel things are slipping.
yes,
you’re the
4: You’re the CEO of your published book–
CEO, the CMO, the CFO, the COO, and maybe even the CTO. Sure, you may
have a great publisher and it’s a very nice feeling to create a product with other
people. But once it’s out, beyond a point, you’ve got to take charge of how well
it does – at least in terms of the ideas and consistent attention on implementing
them. Having said that – you don’t want to overdo it, and that brings me to the
last point here.

5:
Make a considered choice about where to spend your

It’s easy to get attached to your first work, and there are plenty of things
time–

to do to make sure that it reaches its intended audience. However, there’s a question to ask yourself - should you be hankering after the success of that first book
or should you be spending that time writing your second piece? It’s a call you
have to make.
Ultimately, you should be able to define the role of writing in your life – what does
it mean to you? Do you imagine that it is going to be your primary source of income? Or do you prefer to do something totally different as a job, and treat writing as a pleasure and a passion? Is it something which you want to commit to on
a daily basis, or does it work better for you to treat writing your books as a project
to undertake at regular intervals in a focused manner? There are no right answers,
but there is definitely one that works better for you as an individual than others.
You can’t rush it, but finding that answer will probably bring you a lot of peace,
and then you can do what you were probably meant to do in the first place - write,
but with joy.

Yashodhara Lal is the author of Just Married, Please Excuse. (www.justmarriedpleaseexcuse.com) She is also a Marketer with 11+ years experience in FMCG
and Digital Marketing. Most impressively, she’s a mother of three young children, and blogs atwww.yashodharalal.com, and is on twitter @yashodharalal.
Her second book ‘Sorting Out Sid’ is due for release in December 2013.

In good stories, it is not out of the ordinary to come across that one character

that breaks your heart. We have all seen and loved these characters in popular culture- right from DJ and Karan in Rang De Basanti, to Sirius Black in Harry Potter
and the Order of the Phoenix, to even Mufasa from The Lion King. The arc of these
characters teaches you the themes of the text, moves the plot forward, and reminds
you to be thankful for the direction the other characters are driven in. The reader’s
arc (their experience and what they take back from the story) is deeply affected by
the journeys of these characters. Often, it is hard to create this character without
causing a dent in your plot, or changing the atmosphere that you worked so hard
to create. Here are five failsafe ways to create the perfect heartbreaking character:

Rule number 1: A reason to kill the character.

Killing a character that you want your audience to ally with is usually an excellent
way to cause pain to your reader’s literary soul. However, to truly do the job, having
a reason or a “lesson” for your readers will strengthen the blow. Even if you want
to create the understanding that there is no sense in death, that is your lesson right
there. Knowing why and what you want to convey by killing the character before
you even begin writing will create clarity and help enforce the themes of your story.

Rule number 2: Consequences of “the tragedy.”

Once you’ve broken your reader’s heart by either killing, torturing, changing a character’s comfortable setting completely or whatever method of tragedy you choose, it
is important that the effects of “the tragedy” reverberate throughout different aspects
of the story. For instance, if the character you want your readers to love is killed, it is
important to remind your audience how his or her death affected the other characters whether it be a positive or negative reaction. It might even be a good idea to give
them insight into what the plot might have been like if that character were still around,

just to show them how deeply it influenced the plot. If the consequences of the tragedy fail to echo through each of the literary features of your story, it’s safe to say that
the character will not truly make anyone’s heart ache.

Rule number 3: Don’t be afraid of flaws.

While writing a character you want your readers to love, it is hard to express their
flaws. While writing this character, making your audience aware of the character’s
flaws can often help in the process of breaking their heart. The tragic hero, an age
old literary concept, is usually endowed with a fatal flaw that usually leads to his or
her death. Even Achilles, the invincible Greek hero, had a weak ankle that led to his
downfall. Giving your character faults often makes him or her more tangible to the
reader. Giving them real flaws (not the self-deprecating, undervaluing hero that we
have all known and loved before), but borderline narcissism, or slight selfishness,
or even something as simple as impatience can make your tragic hero more relatable. When the time comes, this aids in increasing their misery when you hit them
with any mishap that falls upon your character.

Rule number 4: Challenging a well-established character trope.

While killing a character is an exemplary way to break a reader’s heart, challenging
something that the reader believes to already know can hurt them as well. The hero,
the star-crossed lovers, the loyal companion, the redeemable evil figure with ultimately good intentions and the true villain are all common archetypes that a reader
has been familiarized with through several different types of media. Introducing
one of these character archetypes puts the reader on a path that they feel like they
have already walked through several times. George R.R. Martin has mastered this
technique in his bestselling series A Song of Ice and Fire. He introduces characters
like Robb Stark as a protagonist, puts the reader on a hero’s path (something that
they have know and love already), and challenges the archetype with an unexpected death.

Rule number 5: Knowledge is as dangerous and powerful as fire. Play
with it.

Another interesting method to break a reader’s heart is to play with the knowledge
of the character’s tragedy. Foreshadowing is a common literary device that gives
you little clues about what is coming next without revealing too much. Setting up
what’s coming later in the plot can be an extremely useful in creating the atmosphere you want when the plot actually does play out.
This method is displayed beautifully in Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief.

A story narrated by death, about death, the audience expects death throughout the
novel but still resists it when it finally plays out.
These are failsafe methods that have been used successfully to break hearts. While
they are useful to keep in mind, that does not necessarily mean that these rules are
the only way to break a reader’s heart. If you love your character for whomever he
or she is, and your plot puts them on journey that breaks your heart, it is likely that
it is going to do the same for your readers (albeit assuming that your writing is clear
and that your plot is organized). Go ahead, write your story, break hearts, convey
themes and leave your readers with a character that they hate to love.

“Nidhi is a Writing, Literature and Publishing student at
Emerson College in Boston. Being a voracious reader, she
was exposed to the realms of fantasy fiction from a young
age and adores all fictional worlds and creatures. Apart from
reading and writing, she has a strong appreciation for other
creative fields such as theatre, music and film.’’

storizen.com | August | 22

Interviewed and written by Mukesh Rijhwani

We noticed this gorgeous young Indian-American author be-

cause her books sold out like hot cakes. Enamored by her beauty
and voice, we started the interview on a different note.
Have you already got your Mr. Right or still looking for one?

“Fantastic question! ;) I think I’ll just keep it simple and say
that I’m not married right now.”

storizen.com | August | 25

since the age of 3 in India and then
the US. I played the violin my entire
childhood. I can still read music and
recently became interested in singing. I won a state wide poetry contest in middle school which was my
first affirmation to pursue writing
privately”

Little Tulika with Aunt and Grandfather

And with this we knew it would be fun
along the way. We began from the beginning.
Which part of India are you from?
When did you move to the US?

“I was born in Lucknow, where my
whole family is originally from. I
moved to US when I was 4 years
old.”

With good looks and a good height, we
asked this Chicago-based author and
journalist about careers in sports and
modelling.
Did you play any sport in school / college/ state level?

“I was too aggressive and ungraceful to play any sport elegantly but
my parents put me in Tae Kwon Do
which I studied till high school and
had received a Brown Belt.”
What about walking the ramp professionally or as an amateur?

“No. I was asked to model once in
With two books in her kitty, we were
curious about her schooling, what was college but my parents didn’t like the
it like?
idea. In hindsight, I completely agree
“I was always an artistic kid, drawing, painting…. winning art prize

with them – at that age I was not
mature enough to understand anything.”

I studied abroad in the UK during my undergraduate in Finance and then I did my Masters Fashion
Design from Milan, Italy with further studies in
Paris, France.
storizen.com | August | 26

And in col- “December 2008 - I started writlege did you ing... just free flow thoughts. Withmajor in
in months, this had turned into a
literature?

“I studied
abroad in
the UK during my undergraduate in
Finance and then I did my Masters
Fashion design from Milan, Italy
with further studies in Paris, France.
During my time in Europe – I had a
chance to see so much of the world.
I even attended the Cannes film
festival! At the university of Illinois,
Urbana-Champaign - I was also a
journalist and had my own column
in the local newspaper.”

massive bloated mish mash piece of
work that I *very mistakenly* presumed to be excellence.
2009 - put it aside for a full year.
Kind of forgot about it
mid 2010 - returned to the document. HORRIFIED at the nonsense
I had produced. Worked closely with
an editor to try to fix the disaster.
*Had the epiphany that my never-ending, 100k+ word manuscript
might actually be 2 books.
This was the birth of Delhi Stopover
AND Crashing B-Town.

They want to publish Delhi Stopover. But there is
a catch.They also want Crashing B-Town!!!! AND
they want to see a third book as well.
She did her Masters in Fashion Design
and her worked as a contributing writer
to Elle, Vogue, Grazia and India Today Magazine which paved the way for
Delhi Stopover. Published by penguin,
Delhi Stopover explores the world of
India’s evolving fashion landscape and
chronicles many of her observations
from the global fashion and entertainment industries.
Take us through the journey of writing Delhi Stopover.

March 2011 - on a research trip in
India, met with a literary agent in
Delhi. Though not terribly excited,
he made some queries... including
one editor at Penguin.
April 2011 - received request from
a number of publishers for the full
manuscript. One in particular requested to know what my future
books might be after Delhi Stopover.
June 2011 - No news. I am at the
verge of defeat. I have been to
storizen.com | August | 27

blur.... the editing process begins
with the Penguin editing team. I
rewrote the whole book (again)
realizing that Penguin might
have higher standards for me.
Discussion on jacket cover was
an eye opener. I became very
close to my editor after some
major head butting. Realized
that I should stick to what I
know best - writing!!!
October 2012 - Book releases
across South Asia.
Mid October 2012 - I nearly die
of happiness every time I see the
book in bookstores or anyone
buying the book in front of me.
Deeply humbled to be positioned
along JK Rowling, Salman
Rushdie, Ken Follett, and other
biggies.
writing conference and submitted
End of October 2012 - the book is
to agents stateside without success.
selling out across major bookstores!
Thinking seriously about self pubHas received positive word of mouth
lishing. Eager to put this “writing
business” behind me and start a new from the generous national press
chapter that doesn’t entail so much coverage.
December 2012 - Book has SOLD
creative rejection.
OUT of stock completely. My literary
July 4, 2011 - receive life altering
agent informs me that Delhi Stopemail from an editor at Penguin.
over has officially hit best seller!”
Contract is included. They want to
publish Delhi Stopover. But there is
Her book uncovers some of the darka catch. They also want Crashing
est secrets of fashion industry, as well
B-Town!!!! AND they want to see a as displays the joys of being in one. We
third book as well.
nudged her about the number of copies
The rest of the year is a euphoric
sold.
storizen.com | August | 28

How many copies of Delhi Stopover
have you sold ?

Tell us about your latest book Crashing B-Town?

“The head of sales at Penguin told
me that they had sold out of ALL
inventory and would be going to
second reprint. My agent informed
me that the book had become a best
seller.
I don’t have the exact numbers but
am grateful to know that the book
resonated so immediately with the
readers and that it flew off bookshelves so fast!”

“Released by Penguin, Crashing

B-Town is a continuation of Lila’s
story that left off at the end of Delhi
Stopover. This time the story is set in
Mumbai and uses the backdrop of
the city’s prolific film industry. My
hope was to not only reveal some
truths about the insulated industry
but to also open conversation on
very serious subjects such as rape,
sexism, violence, ambition, and
finding our identities in a very fast

We (my agents and I) have been approached by a
number of directors and producers for the film options. We have not yet finalized a partner.
Have you sold the movie rights of Del- changing environment.”
hi Stopover?
This month Crashing B-Town has hit
the book stores across the country.
“We (my agents and I) have been
approached by a number of directors Tell us more about your fashion statement.
and producers for the film options.

We have not yet finalized a partner
for that endeavor. A film will be a
huge undertaking and I want the
best collaborator for the job.”

Her second book Crashing B-town has
just been released. While Delhi Stopover was on Fashion, this one’s on Bollywood.

“I think my fashion style on a regular basis is “comfort chic” which
includes yoga pants and tank tops. I
like to dress for the occasion and will
definitely go all out glam for formal
events from dresses to saris. I don’t
believe in following fashion trends
blindly. You will never find me
wearing a short mini-skirt. I don’t
storizen.com | August | 29

And what is there in your purse?

“There’s barely enough room in
my clutch for my keys, lipstick,
and iPhone. I’d have to rethink
my entire outfit if I had to switch
to a bigger bag. Limited purse real
estate is a major obstacle whenever I go out. And frankly, I really don’t want to take my pepper
spray with me.”
Have you ever been mistaken for a
celebrity?

“Yes. Multiple times. It’s quite
funny and sometimes I play along
for a few minutes! A few years ago
at the Sundance Film Festival, I
was asked for an autograph by
someone who thought I was an
indie actress from the middle east.
In recent years, I have been told
that I bear resemblance to various
Tulika with Billy
actresses from India. I won’t name
names because I definitely don’t see
like them. But I love heels (all the
the similarity but it’s flattering none
time!) and feminine dresses. It’s all
about understanding one’s body type the less!”
and wearing what makes you feel
the most confident. While I am not Do you understand or speak Hindi?
a big fan of very girly fashion, I do
enjoy taking some fashion risks with “Despite being raised in the US, I
different silhouettes and fabrics. My picked up Hindi in college and now
gravitate more toward a sophisticat- speak fluently and can also read and
write Devnagri script.”
ed, elegant, and playful style.”
She grew up in the Midwest and she
storizen.com | August | 30

completed her masters in fashion design from the European Institute of Design in Milan, Italy. Following a short
stint studying French in Paris, Tulika
entered Manhattan’s fashion industry.
Intrigued by entertainment’s ability to
dictate trends, she soon sought creative
outlet in media. Leaving New York
behind for Los Angeles, she delved
into the evolving media industry with
a focus on India. Having looked at the
fashion industry from close quarters we
asked her

when it comes to criticism on their
appearance.”
Which author do you feel has influenced your style the most?

“There are so many. I don’t think
I can choose just one. I often find
British writing to be the most intense. I recently read Juliane Barnes,
The Sense of an Ending and was
mesmerized by his style. Rosamund

I’m working on my third book right now that will
be done any minute now! It is a complete departure
from my earlier work but still maintains the India
connection.
Lupton’s Afterwards absolutely
Wat advice would you give to people
who are planning to take up modeling shook me. I love the witty humor of
as a career?
Marianne Keyes who writes about
“Modeling is an industry that requires a certain unique body type
or image. The physical demands to
achieve this very slim or muscular
physique are not for everyone and
usually not sustainable in the long
term. I think anyone interested in
modeling should remember that the
industry judges solely on looks and
while it may appear glamorous on
the outside, it’s a very serious business with intense competition. Any
candidate must have very thick skin

very serious subjects. I have fallen
in love with dog lit. My favorite is
Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in
the Rain.”
Two books in the kitty. What next?

“I’m working on my third book right
now (unrelated to Delhi Stopover
and Crashing B-Town) that will be
done any minute now! It is a complete departure from my earlier
work but still maintains the India
connection. I’m also playing around
storizen.com | August | 31

with some new ideas for a fourth.
I am looking forward to seeing my
first two books adapted for celluloid
and television and am eager to be
involved in those projects as well.”
We heard that she’s a big fan of dogs.
Tell us about your pet dog and your
love for dogs.

“My dog is a cocker spaniel that
came from a rescue shelter. His
name is Billy. I have always had a
dog in my life since I was a teenager
and cannot imagine a future without one. I find their innocence and
infinite happiness over tiny things
to be the ultimate example for all
of us. Dogs are wonderful teachers.
They live such short lives but the
kind of love they give us reminds us
to be better humans.”
What a wonderful statement to end
such an interesting conversation. We
wish this young Indian-American
author, a hundred more best sellers.
Thank you Ms. Tulika Mehrotra.

Tulika Mehrotra is a Chicago-based author and journalist. Her debut novel, Delhi Stopover was published by Penguin in 2012. She follows up with her second,
Crashing B-Town, releasing fall 2013. She is also a regular contributor to Elle,
Vogue, Men’s Health, India Today and other magazines.

storizen.com | August | 32

storizen.com | August | 34

Tell us a bit about you? what do
you do for living?

I’m a travel & lifestyle writer. I write
on food, (occasionally) fashion and all
sorts of travel experiences from whistling at peacocks (they respond in shrill
cat-like voices) in a village in a Maharashtra and plucking oysters in Kerala
to tripping on the creamiest prawn
curry, rice and sambal in Sri Lanka on a
day hotter than hell and wandering the
chic streets of Melbourne.
I’ve written a feature film screenplay –
Dirty Little Secrets - that was selected
for the Locarno NFDC Screenwriters’
Lab 2009. I also wrote and directed a
short film – Fowl Men – which was
screened at two film festivals, in Italy
and Chicago.

And about the gemologist part?
I’m an IGI-trained gemologist, jewellery designer and diamond graders
(though I prefer coloured stones to
diamonds, which form an altogether different branch of gemology and
evaluating them requires tremendous
expertise and experience) I’ve been
sketching since childhood, so the inclination towards design was around for
a long time; my maternal grandfather
had a small pedhi near Kalyan (Mumbai) and my mother – who worked as a
bank manager for 30 years, quit her job
to start a jewellery studio in Pune. I’m
been writing and working with gems
and jewellery simultaneously.

How did you get the idea for your
book – Strike@36?
I think the germ of the book was wanting to write a light-hearted story about
single people in their thirties; complicated characters with intertwined personal-professional lives and lots of emotional baggage. It’s a story with three
main characters – Shobhna, Udayan
and Sagar. I wrote Sho and Uday – who
are ex lovers - as people with connections to the film industry because that
was a space I was in at the time. After
that, a dozen odd characters sprung
out, very organically, an assorted, all of
whom I fell madly in love with, especially Katya – my fierce Maharashtrian
mafiaso lady and Sho’s Pathan boss,
AK. Then there’s the surliest of them
all, Sagar; a typical small town ‘vernie’
with massive talent and major attitude.
I loved writing him! I hate sweet, happy,
smiling characters. Sagar is anything
but that. He’s also representative of talented, skilled and intelligent small-town
youth who have to adapt themselves to
big cities.
Just recently, someone asked if I’d modelled Sho on Kiran Rao (both from
Bangalore, lived alone in Mumbai and
worked in the film industry without any
prior connections) That was unusual; I
hadn’t ever thought of something like
that! Some people also (rightfully) criticized that the book does not accurately
depict Bollywood. That’s correct. It was
never meant to. It was always meant to
be exaggerated and absurd.
storizen.com | August | 35

How long did it take for you to fin- everywhere. I’m stupid with maps and
don’t get what the GPS is saying, so
ish the book?

there’s no alternative but to ask people after every 1 km. That happened in
Just over a year. I wrote regularly, at
least for a couple of hours on an average Aqaba in Jordan. So a few kids invited
me into their home and began yelling
of four days a week; sometimes more.
when I didn’t give them any ‘lipstick’ or
‘phone’.

Tell us what happened after you
finish the manuscript and before
you got a call from publisher?

The book was commissioned by Harper
Collins. I’d pitched the concept to Publisher and Chief Editor, Karthika V.K,
and she liked it. Must have been the
effect of one of Mumbai’s best Gujrathi
thali restaurants!

Tell us what do you enjoy the most
(and why) among travel, lifestyle
and fiction writing?
Both travel and fiction writing. I’ve
always wanted to romanticize travel writing; sitting on a dusty roadside
café writing in first person in my artsy
little notebook; experiences as fresh as
dewdrops. Unfortunately, that doesn’t
happen! I sit in that café and I eat and I
watch people and I’m blissfull. To write,
I need a computer and a city in India.

Any interesting travel incident?
Many! Most of them involve food or
animals and people who speak in a
language I don’t understand. I’m also
directionally challenged, so I get lost
storizen.com | August | 36

When do you write? How often do
you write.
’m a morning person, but I’ve stopped
writing in the mornings. I reserve that
for yoga. I also don’t write late through
the night unless I have a deadline for a
magazine story, or I’ve really gotten into
the groove of it (very rarely, it goes on
till 2 am without dinner or water) But
my best output’s between 11 am to 6
pm. I write almost every day. No laptop
on Sundays, no laptop during festivals,
no laptop during travels (never!)

You’ve written for a film? Tell us
more about that.
Not really. I’ve written a feature film
script, which hasn’t yet gotten made
into a movie. I enjoyed writing it.

Tell us how different screen writing
is from the book writing?
Off the bat, screen writing is harder.
You’re writing something that someone’s going to read with the intention of
translating on screen. It’s a collaborative
effort or - if you’re lucky - it’s

soon going to turn out to be a collaborative effort. If your script gets made
into a film, you write multiple drafts
accommodating a producer’s, director’s
and actors’ inputs. Writing fiction has
no holy cows. Technically, again I enjoy the freedom a book brings. Having
said that, I loved the long script discussions I had with my mentor – Philippa
Campbell - at the NFDC Locarno lab.
It’s lively, productive, teaches you how
to incorporate other (smarter) ideas
within the broad framework of your
own story; it opens your mind (as opposed to writing a book where you’re
queen of your own castle; a bit of a Marie Antoinette!)

won him the Man Booker for 2011).
The first is a fat tome, the other is very
slim, but both are fascinating glimpses
into the twisted human psyche.

Are you writing your next book?
I am! Two actually. A travel book and
literary fiction. The fiction is all dark
and mean. Very depressing. Wish me
luck!

Any plans to cross over and become a full time fiction or screen
writer?

I don’t think I have either the patience
or talent to sustain that. Also, I have
Are you planning to continue to do both Moon and Mercury in Gemini.
screen writing?
Doing anything ‘full-time’ is not my
cup of tea.
Not right now. Perhaps in the future,

Tell us about your favourite authors and books?
I love animals, so one of my all-time
favourite authors is that delightful British veterinary surgeon and writer James
Herriot. A P. G. Wodehouse can always
be relied upon to cheer one up. From
Indian authors, I’m a huge fan of Munshi Premchand and Pu La Deshpande.
Nobody writes as beautifully about
India as Indian authors in Indian languages!
Of late, the books that have stunned me
are Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and Julian
Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending (which

Do people mistake you for a celebrity?
No!

Words of wisdom for our wanna-be authors?
Don’t do it unless it makes you really,
really, truly, deeply madly happy. The
thrill of creating a kickass character or
even a single sentence that’s perfectly
written– that joy should be comparable
to falling in love, or walking in the rain,
eating potato chips, hugging a puppy or
whatever. Writing is a very lonely job;
you will eventually hate it, most of
storizen.com | August | 37

us don’t earn enough money doing it,
people will hate what you write, nobody
will buy your books. There’s no redemption; so you’ll do it only if there’s a paranormal pull to tell a story.
We already know that it’s very important for a writer to read a lot. It’s also
important to go out there and live life;
especially if you’re an introvert and
tend to use writing as a shell to crawl
into. Force yourself to get out of your
comfort zone. Eventually that will help
in your writing too. The world’s too
interesting to spend it all crunched over

a aptop. Physical exercise helps tremendously to focus on writing. It clears the
cobwebs in your head.
I’ve also got into the habit of taking
notes on my phone calendar (you can
carry a notebook to jot down thoughts)
At the unlikeliest of times, a genius
word or sentence will strike you. Make
a note, immediately and go home and
write it somewhere, because you won’t
remember it later and you’ll kick yourself. Make a separate file of these inspirations.

Aparna Pednekar is a Mumbai-based travel and lifestyle journalist and has contributed to Vogue, GQ, Travel Plus, Verve, Harper’s Bazaar, Hindustan Times
Brunch, Lonely Planet, Elle, OK!, BBC Good Food and Femina. Besides being
a travel enthusiast, she wrote a feature film script, Dirty Little Secrets, that was
part of The NFDC Locarno Screenwriters’ Lab in 2009. Later, she wrote and directed a short film, Fowl Men, which was screened at a couple of festivals in Italy
and Chicago. She is also an IGI-qualified gemologist and jewellery designer, and
designs gemstone-studded jewellery out of a small studio in Pune. Strike@36 is
her first book.

storizen.com | August | 38

storizen.com | August | 40

T

responsibilities and other life intervenell us more about mom-lit
tions, didn’t allow me scope to follow a
genre.
more disciplined approach to writing
The mom-lit genre is well-established
the book. Sadly, I am not one of those
in the West, and authors like Jennifer
writers who smugly claim they are at
Weiner, Allison Pearson and Jane Porter their desk at 5a.m. sharp and key in
have written deeply compassionate and 1000 words a day. But I am hoping to
witty books in this space. Mom-lit is,
join this league of authors some day!
essentially, the next generation of chick- I wrote the book over the course of a
lit. Mom-lit explores what happens
year.
when single girl Bridget Jones (using
Tell us what happened after you
her as a metaphor), marries and befinished the manuscript and before
comes a mother. The mom-lit, or momyou got a call from your publisher?
my-lit, genre is all about that messy, but
I signed up with my publisher only on
wonderful journey called motherhood.
the basis of a synopsis and sample chapIt delves into the psyche of mothers,
ters. I was very fortunate in this regard.
follows the antics of their children, and
And a special word of thanks to my
trains its lens on the various aspects of
publisher for being so understanding
contemporary parenting. The idea is to
when I encountered delays in finishkeep the tone light, witty and humoring the manuscript on account of the
ous, without sounding too preachy and
afore-mentioned reasons.
didactic.

How did you get the idea for your
book - Mom in the City?

The idea took shape when my son was
in playschool. I used to wait for him
till pick-up time and started writing
the story in my head. Like him, I too
was experiencing the modern Indian
playschool system, albeit from a very
different angle! However, there was no
real plan behind writing a book in the
mom-lit space. The story grew organically and there was no stopping the flow
once the process started.

Tell us what do you do for living?

I am a Commissioning Editor at Rupa
Publications.

How do you keep a balance between the three jobs - Day Job,
Mom and Writing?

The last one year was an eye-opening
experience because, I was, indeed, passionately involved in all three roles! At
times I felt like a tightrope walker—one
wrong step and I could have come hurtling down! I would write late into the
night and at the neighbourhood coffee
shop on Sundays. I could pull it off only
How long did it take for you to fin- because of all the love and support I got
from my family. My mother’s extreme
ish the book?
This was the challenging part. Juggling love and generosity ensured that my
son was never neglected whenever my
a full-time job, along with parenting
storizen.com | August | 41

writer’s hat was on. My son was a real
champ in seeing me through this book’s
journey. His sunny demeanour and
constant stream of jokes kept me entertained and motivated me to finish the
novel.

shan news in Sanskrit was a source of
great entertainment for someone like
me!
While parents from any era experience
the same unadulterated joy from their
offspring, in today’s India, parenting
When do you write? How often do seems to be dangerously veering towards a competitive zone. It’s all about
you write?
By virtue of being an editor, I do get to keeping up with the Joneses, or Sharmas, if you will. As a parent, you can
indulge in a fair bit of writing at work.
either choose to keep it simple and
Besides, I am a journalist by training
basic or get sucked into the cesspool of
and hope to be more active on that
modern-day parenting that is all about
front too. All this keeps me connectlavish birthday parties, expensive Xbox
ed to my craft. I guess, over and above
games, or being super-ambitious by
everything else, multi-tasking writers
enrolling your child in one too many
need to become more adept at time
management. I have started writing the activity classes. I’m not sure if this is a
view held by other parents too, but, in
next book and am quite pleased with
my output so far. Alternate week nights my opinion, a certain degree of stress
and weekend evenings—post the kiddie has crept into the otherwise joyous exbirthday parties and play date circuit— perience of being a parent.
I guess it all boils down to how you
seem to work for me!
wish to play the game.
What does it mean to be a mom/

Did you take any creative writing
parent in modern-day India.
What sort of challenges do parents course?
No, though I often wonder what an
face these days?
The rhythm of parenting in India has
undergone a sea change from the time
my generation of parents were kids.
For one, there were no malls and other
fancy distractions that burnt deep holes
in the pocket. The pace of life was more
laidback and happiness was inplaying
hopscotch with friends, collecting shells
in the beach, lying on the top berth
of the train compartment enroute to
summer vacations, or fighting for sofa
space as the Ramayana or Mahabharata
played on television. Even the Doordarstorizen.com | August | 42

MFA degree (offered by most US and
UK universities) does for aspiring writers.

Tell us about your favourite authors and books?

I love all the works of Jane Austen,
the Brontë sisters, Saki, Leo Tolstoy,
Colleen McCullough, O. Henry, John
Updike, Tom Perrotta, and numerous
others to name here. Among Indian writers, I enjoy reading Anita Rau
Badami, Vikram Seth, and Rohinton
Mistry, to name a few. I read R.K.

Narayan whenever I need a shot of
cheer and inspiration.

Which is the best feedback you’ve
received from a reader?

My debut novel, The TamBrahm Bride,
seemed to have touched a chord with
several women going through their fair
share of humorous (and not so funny)
experiences in the Indian arranged
marriage market. One reader wrote in
saying that the characters and settings
in my book were so real that she decided to keep her antennae up when it
came time for her to enter this melee!

Are you writing your next book?

Any plans to cross over and become a full time writer?

I love being an editor and an author,
though it does make for aschizophrenic
existence!

Words of wisdom for our wannabe
authors?

Passionately believe in your story, get
into the skin of your characters, and
don’t let the stress of the writing process
get the better of you. Take a nice long
walk to clear the cobwebs in your head.
Keep the faith—you will triumph, dear
writer, in the end.

Yes, I have started writing my next book
and am having so much fun creating
the characters.

Kausalya Saptharishi works in the publishing industry in India. She holds an M.A.
in Journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is the proud mother of a sprightly six-year-old boy with whom she is re-discovering the small and
beautiful moments of life. The TamBrahm Bride was her first novel.

storizen.com | August | 43

W

that celebrates successes. YourStory was
hat kind of books do you read ? started with the intention of providing
a forum so that budding and aspiring
I read anything and everything that
entrepreneurs can find one place which
interests me and catches my attention.
becomes their voice and storytelling
Books are my best friends :-), some of
platform. We believe that we need to
the books lately which have left an im- celebrate stories of people who are just
pression are Meditations by Marcus Au- starting up and giving them the much
relius, Flourish by Martin EP Seligman, needed confidence to carry on in their
The Strategist by Cynthia Montgomery, journeys. Moreover the focus remains
Change by Design by Tim Brown, Start- on sharing the stories of entrepreneurs
up Life by Brad Feld
from small towns and cities.

Who are your favorite Indian authors ?

How do you choose topics for Yourstory.in ?

I like Subroto Bagchi’s all the books and As I mentioned, YourStory.in was
recently loved “The Captainship” by
launched with an intention to provide
Ananya Gupta
visibility to entrepreneurs and changemakers who were not given their due
Which is your favorite book ?
coverage in the “mainstream” media, so
we have been very broad when it comes
Most of the books that i read leave a
to topics. From women entrepreneurs
mark and shape up my thinking, will
to software developers, from artists to
be difficult to choose only one. The
ecommerce entrepreneurs, we have
Strategist by Cynthia Montgomery is
varied and diverse topics. If you have a
the latest book i read and really enjoyed story we are the platform.
the take of the author on how to think
strategically, unlike many books in this How different is storytelling in Yourgenre its not prescriptive but leaves you story.in ?
with clear pointers on how to run your
business.
We believe storytelling is a very pow-

How did Yourstory.in happen?
Working in the corporate media setup,
I saw that young entrepreneurs starting
out did not have a platform to share
their stories,challenges and learnings,
Traditionally, we have been a nation

erful tool for any business and more
specifically us. As Storytellers, we bring
out real journeys of entrepreneurs. We
focus on the founders’ personal stories,
their motivations, their strategies and
learnings. It delves deep into the human
aspect of entrepreneurship and
storizen.com | August | 45

storytelling. I am a strong believer
of emotional quotient as a driver to
growth of entrepreneurship and we
strive to bring that out. Somewhere in
the noise of getting funding, building
the next google etc, we forget that the
â&#x20AC;&#x153;entrepreneur at helmâ&#x20AC;? is everyday living his or her vision, we celebrate, encourage and try to ignite that.

overall satisfaction that you will have
from your venture and more importantly your life.

Any suggestions/ advices for young
entrepreneurs.

Anything else you might want to say
to our readers.

Be yourself, i have seen in the long run
its the only thing that matters. Being
an entrepreneur is not easy at all, develop a thick skin if you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have one
already :-), be humble and be a seeker
of knowledge..it works big time in the

Make your mistakes and evolve, all the
bad things that might happen to you are
actually/totally blessings in disguise, i
can say this as i have lived to tell it :-)

storizen.com | August | 46

One book you would recommend to
young entrepreneurs.
Rework by Jason Fried and David
Heinemeier Hansson

Ipad is the most sought after gadget in the world. Because
of itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s beauty, it has brought so many new readers to the
market. The Rich User Experience has no-match when
compared to a physical book.
storizen.com | August | 50

storizen.com | August | 51

Kindle : Considered a mos
Century. Set to replace ph
erâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eye and battery which

storizen.com | August | 52

st important invention in the publishing world after Gutenbergâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Printing press in 15th
hysical books because of its epaper technology which does not cause any strain to readh stays on for weeks. This is a killer product.

storizen.com | August | 53

Mobile: This gadget has touched almost all aspects of our lives. Millions use it for
reading as well. The mobile reading apps like Wattpad is spreading like a wild fire.
This gadget may end up being the winner.

storizen.com | August | 54

Amit Mitra is a Documentary Filmmaker & Photographer.
He also works as Analyst in an IT company. He has co-founded Storizen.

Neloy Bandyopadhyay is an Award winning Photographer &
Wildlife Filmmaker. His pictures has been published in many
International and National magazines , National Geographic,
Saevus to name a few. He works as a Security Analyst in an IT
company and he is the Photo Editor in Storizen.
Sandeep Sulakhe is a software professional based in Mumbai,
got hooked to photography in 2010.

storizen.com | August | 55

A thousand words to be heard, a thousand talks
to be said,
As we move together in our life ahead.
Yet your silence covers it all,
Leaving me absolutely enthrall.
Unexpressed array of sentiments and a table of
reveries
The unstated things down the lane of memories.
I comprehend it as your eyes speak,
The essence of our relationship unique and mystique!!
Your silence is as deep as ocean,
Enriching the passion and emotion;
As I look into your eyes,
Only to learn those words still unspoken.
You keep emotions buried under the floor;
But now I hear your silence,
As I enter in your world understanding it more.
Saying nothing sometimes says the most;
And I promise I will fulfill those unstated
dreams of yours.
Silence is the speech of Love;
The music of the spheres above.
And so I promise to complete you;
Even when you say nothing at all!!!

A true Gemini always guided by twins I am communicative, curious and
thoughtful. A mechanical Engineer by profession writing is like a passion for me.
I follow a straightforward direct Dil Se approach, writing on anything that affects
my heart and forces my brain to think.
storizen.com | August | 56

A Company Secretary by profession, Saru writes poems, articles and stories on
varied topics. Her creativity in both English and Hindi has received commendable
response in a short period of time. Her work has been showcased on many National and International forums.

storizen.com | August | 57

Are you EVER
Truly Independent?
Totally Dependent?
Completely Interdependent?
At Dawn
You are totally dependent
In the quest for independence
Making lives interdependent

You realize and accept independence
You realize and accept interdependence
At dusk
You are as dependent as you choose to be
You are as independent as you choose to be
You are as interdependent as you choose to be

In the Morning
And then at night
You are dependent
You are as dependent as they choose to be
Asserting your independence
Adding complexity to interdependence You are as independent as they choose to be
You are as interdependent as they choose to be
At Noon
You think you are no longer dependent
You are strongly independent
And don’t like the interdependence
In the Afternoon
You realize and accept dependence
In her own words ‘Engineer and Management Graduate (IIMB Alumni) by Education | IT / Innovation / Marketing Specialist by Profession | Daughter / Sister /
Mother by “Divine Grace” | Wife by ruling of the Heart | Philosopher by
Circumstance (after I became a mother – essential for BALANCE)
storizen.com | August | 58

I

did not rain people would use them as
could not help stealing long glances
a walking stick to help with the gradiover at her, hunched over my diary in
ent. Every eating place in the city had a
the small coffee shop that had become
tall basket kinda thing in which people
my haven in this little lost town. For a
tossed in their umbrellas as they came
very weird reason I was trying to figure in, she put hers in right next to mine.
out the correct pronunciation of bufSo there she was- framed in the doorfet – the one with the food, not the one way, her hair hung out behind her being
with the smacks(just thought I’d claribuffeted around by the wind, she wore a
fy), so there I was struggling with buff
white top that seemed to curve around
which rhymes with rough –ay and buff her almost casually, as if the perfect
that rhymes with woof-ay when in she
fit was solely by chance and had been
walked, well in truth she struggled a fair completely unintended, the skirt ended
bit with her umbrella right at the door
a couple of inches above her knee. She
before she stepped in.
wore no jewellery.
That is what caught my attention to
Before I knew it I was writing her debegin with- for she carried an umbrella scription into my book. She was signifjust like mine, the rainbow umbrellas
icant in some manner, in what way-I
as they were called were quite popular
did not know? There were no moles,
in this part of the world( well I’d let you no birthmarks, no scars, no pimples
figure out why they were called Rainor the evidence of any ever existing,
bow umbrellas).
her fair skin was unblemished, the lips
The weather over here had been very
were neither too big – you know the
fickle, it would be sunny all day and
kind when you already have bee-stung
then in another moment it would start lips and then a bee actually stings you
raining, it was much simpler to carry an so that they grow to twice the size, and
umbrella wherever you went. When it
neither were they too narrow- they
storizen.com | August | 60

were perfect in proportion just like
the rest of her– I somehow stopped my
inappropriate train of thought. Yet I
could not help looking at her every few
seconds. She held her mug of coffee
in her hand and I could almost feel the
sensual pleasure that she was experiencing merely by holding that cup, the
way her fingers came through the mug
handle and wrapped around it, wisps
of steam rose from the mug and disintegrated just before it could strike her
face. She ran a hand through her hair
pushing them back only for them to fall
stubbornly back in place a second later,
she had the grace of a figure skater- she
made the mere act of pushing her hair
back seem like a 10 point act.
I had to get out of there, I picked up my
diary flung it into my bag, grabbed my
camera and walked over to the counter
to settle my bill. I casually glanced at
her again as I fished for 100 bucks in my
wallet, she was staring right at me. She
moved her eyes over to the guy behind
the counter and then to other people
in the shop as if I had been a part of a
careless scrutiny of her surroundings
and nothing else. But something about
her look disturbed me, I looked over at
her again but she was looking out of the
front window now.
I was very conscious of all my movements as I picked up my umbrella from
the basket, my mind had to fall back on
every bit of its cognizance to stop me
from looking at her. the outline of her
shoulders stood at the edge of my vision
as I reached for the door, the line of her
top as it snaked around her neck, I had

no idea what I would do if I stayed here
for another second. The few drops of
rain helped me get back to reality, what
had I been thinking? That she would
stop me in the doorway and ask me for
my number? I could not help scoffing
at myself as I started walking the short
distance from the coffee house to my
hotel room.
“Umm Excuse me.” She had to say those
words a few more times before I realized that they were addressed to me.
I almost gasped as I turned around. Was
there really a God out there?
“Yes?”
“I think that’s my umbrella you’ve got.” I
barely registered her words as she gestured to the thing in my hand. “You see,
they are practically the same umbrella
but yours has a straight handle while
mine has a curved one.”
I finally caught on. “I’m so sorry” I muttered unintelligibly, “I guess my mind
was elsewhere.”
“Not a problem.” She stretched out her
hands, one held out my umbrella while
the other waited for me to return hers,
remarkably, if you took the umbrella
out of the picture she looked as if she
was asking for a hug, stupid umbrella.
Our fingers brushed slightly as we exchanged them and for a moment it felt
as if we were holding both hands- again
if you took the umbrellas out of the picture- damn the umbrella.
“Well. Thanks.” She said, and started to
walk away.

I stood rooted to the spot as if all awareness had slowly seeped out of my body,
as if my capacity to think had been
taken away as our fingers had touched.
She stopped and turned, “umm can you
help me with another thing please?” She
said.
“Sure.” I said slowly.
“Actually I just got into town a short
while back, could you please direct me
to a pharmacist nearby? I have a brain
splitting headache.” She gestured back
to the coffee shop we had both stepped
out of, “I thought a cup of coffee would
help, but well, it hasn’t.”
My eyes followed every movement of
her body; “Sure” I said again, “There is
one about 100 metres down this road.”
I paused, “I’m walking in the same direction, I can walk you if you want.”
Sometimes, just sometimes, I surprise
myself- this was one of those times.
She gave me an appraising look as if
assessing how much of a flight risk I
actually was, “That’ll be great.” She said
finally.
“How long have you been here?” she
asked me after a while, “You are definitely not from around this area, where
are you from?”
I nearly stepped into a puddle as I tried
to put words together to answer her, it
felt as if the mind knew what the answer was, but the words kept moving
around and I could not form any intelligent sentences, so just when I was about
to step into 6 inches of freezing water
her hand reached out to grab my elbow,
“Careful over there.”
I thanked her with a smile. “No, I’m
storizen.com | August | 62

not from around here. I’m from Delhi,
been here for a couple of weeks.” She
just kept looking at me as if waiting for
more. “I’m taking a break between jobs,
I quit one a little while back, and I’m
giving myself a little time to relax before
I start somewhere else, see a few places,
and click a few photographs.”
She muttered something that was too
low to make out.
“What about you?” This was starting to
feel more and more normal with every
passing second.
“Oh, I really don’t have anything as
interesting as that to tell you.” she said,
“I’m only here for a couple of days, a
mini-vacation and then I’d go back to
my same old job on Monday”
She was an intriguing person; she both
stood out from everything around her
yet at the same time seemed to be as
integral a part of the landscape as the
mountains in the distance.
“Maybe we can catch up for a drink
later tonight.” I said as I dropped her in
front of the pharmacy.
“I’d like that.” I quickly gave her the
directions to a popular Tibetan place
nearby, worried all the while that she
might hear the loud thudding noise my
heart seemed to make.
I lay back in my bed a while later staring at the ceiling. It was one of the
cheaper hotels in the city; if you are
planning on staying indefinitely you
take special care to scrounge wherever
you can. I could not begin to imagine
why that woman had affected me the
way she had, I could still feel her hands
on my elbow, as If a part of

her- the faintest of essences had
wrapped around while she stopped me
from falling. There was something different about her, something in her eyes;
it felt as if I had never seen an eye twinkle in my life until I had seen her eyes.
Hours later we sat opposite each other
at the back of the restaurant. The city
was full of small narrow restaurants,
there were seldom more than 5 tables
in a place and they stretched in wards
rather than along the road.
Nobody who saw us would’ve felt that
we had known each other for only a
few hours. She had changed into a jeans
and a sweatshirt, again- nothing she
wore tried to accentuate her curves, but
neither could they camouflage what
lay underneath. We talked of a hundred different things as we sat there; we
talked through the courses, and before
we knew it we were walking down the
narrow roads into the night.
A couple of guys glanced at us as we
walked past a brightly lit ice-cream
shop. “Do you have a boyfriend? “ I
finally asked her. I felt stupid for asking
it, I had known her for like half a day
and I had no business to know it, I silently cursed myself for acting like such
a dork.
She didn’t seem to think so though,
“no.” she answered, she looked sideways
at me as we walked, “do you?”
I muffled a laugh, “No”. She looked
sheepish but did not try to broach the
topic again.
I showed her around the whole of the
weekend, and when it was time for her
to leave she decided to stay back for

another couple of days. We ate all our
meals together, she left her hotel room
after a day and took a room right next
to mine- apparently she did not mind
the mildew one bit. It was a small three
lane town, and we must have walked
through the place at least a couple hundred times. The night before she was
finally scheduled to leave for home she
asked me to come along “You’ve been
here for almost three weeks already.
Don’t you think it is time to head back
to the civilization?”
I told her I wanted to write, that this
was the reason I had come here in
the first place, no laptops, no mobile
phones, no emails, just me and my journal, colouring pages.
“You could colour pages back in Delhi.”
“I could.” I muttered, “But I’ve been
working on this story and I’m sure I’m
very near the end.” I told her I’d leave
for home as soon as I finished.
She kissed me at that instant. I was
more shocked than pleased. Before I
could start taking any sort of pleasure
from it, before I could start thinking,
before I could get past the amazing softness of her lips she broke contact. I had
stood frozen all the while. She carefully
curled her arms around my neck and
pulled me close, the fact that I knew
what was coming did not do anything
to prepare me for what was coming, her
lips made contact with mine for a second time. She seemed almost indifferent to the fact that I was frozen still; she
alternated between my lower and upper
lips. She broke apart for a second time
and looked into my eyes, less than
storizen.com | August | 63

an inch of air stood between us and she
waited for me to get a bearing of myself, I could feel her slightly hastened
breathes, I could feel the warmth that
exuded from her and seeped into my
cold body. A faint smile played across
her face, “Do not be afraid” she whispered. I finally made the journey across
the abyss to her waiting lips. We kissed
in that alley for a while more before
ducking into our hotel rooms.
Later that night as she lay next to me
she finally asked, “So you found the
ending to your story?”
All that had happened in the last one
hour had been a surprise. When I
had set out for this place I hadn’t ever
thought that something like this would
happen, finding love in a strange land, I

had read things like these before, even
fantasized about it, but never in wildest
dreams could I have put it together the
way it played out.
“I think so.” I finally said.
“Then you’ll come back with me tomorrow?”
“Yes.” I felt her sigh with relief. What
had she thought I’d say? “You know
something Dipannita?” I said after what
seemed like an hour, “I’ve never done
anything like this in my life.” She started
to smile.
She sat up on an elbow and gazed down
on my face tracing a finger along my
chin, “you know something Shruti. . . .”
I waited for her to finish, “there is always a first time.”

In his own words, Atul says I’m a software developer, an
occasional writer and a sporadic photographer. I spent an
inordinately large amount of my childhood reading books,
to write a few stories myself was a natural progression. I’m
currently working on two e-book projects, as well as working
to establish a Bob Marley themed coffee house in New Delhi. I love to travel whenever an opportunity presents itself.

storizen.com | August | 64

His nostalgic mood was disturbed brutally by a shout, “Baksi you bastard.”
He smiled turning around, “Hello then,
Jagmohan.”
“Do not play games with me,” Jagmohan said pointing to the gun he was
holding under his khadi jacket.
“So you finally come to finish me off, is
that it?” Bakshi asked, “Well, good for
you. Would you like to have some tea?”
he independence day parade was
“Bakshi, you very well know why I am
going on in full swing in the local
here,” Jagmohan said, “You have ruined
school. Parents did not fail to notice a
me completely.”
four year old waving at the audience.
“Ah well,” smiled Bakshi, “Did I now?
Couple of the parents turned their head Come, lets take a walk.”
to notice an 70-80 year old man sitting “Don’t move.” Jagmohan said.
at the back of the stadium waving back “You do not want to kill me here, Jagat the girl. Music continued playing as
mohan. That was always your problem,
the toddler’s sang national anthem and you were always too eager to do things.
gave a salute to the national flag.
Come Jagmohan, you hold the gun, I
The old man looked at the flag and
only have this walking stick. I want to
smiled, 67 years of freedom, ah freesee her one last time.”
dom. He took a deep breath of the fresh “Fine, but I will walk behind you and if
air and got up from the audience. He
you turn back, i’ll kill you.”
whispered in his son’s ear sitting next
“Sure,” smiled Bakshi remembering the
to him, “Going for a power walk.” The
last time Jagmohan was with him.
son nodded in acknowledgment and
kept clapping at the parade in which his “Is the information correct?” sixty years
young daughter had taken part.
ago 18 year old Bakshi asked the 16 year
The old man took a stroll around the
old Jagmohan.
school and kept walking on the streets
“Yes,” Jagmohan said, “The mistress of
of the old city. “The city has changed a
the governor, Julia told me today. They
lot,” he thought, remembering the old
are holding 10,000 Rs for the salary of
city before independence. This was the the English police officers in the bank.
same street where he had chased seven Imagine if we rob it.” Jagmohan eyes
British police officers with a lathi, he
gleamed, “Azad would be so proud.”
laughed remembering the incident. The
funny part was the police officers were Jagmohan poked him with the gun.
carrying pistols and had no idea he had “You were just like him,” Jagmohan
no weapon on him other than the lathi. said, “Always with the plan. Always

T

storizen.com | August | 66

planning to bring down the British empire.” “We succeeded,” smiled Bakshi.
“Shut up old man,” Jagmohan said, “You
did not succeed. You just replaced the
foreign rulers with local scoundrels.
Look at the state this country is today.
Tell me all that was worth it?”
They reached the oldest church in the
city, Bakshi smiled again, “You should
have seen my four year old granddaughter in her independence day
program, Jagmohan. If you had seen it,
you would believe our mission was a
success. Had you not betrayed us, you
could be there today watching your
own grandchild in the Independence
day parade in our old city instead of
carrying this rusty old gun on a helpless
old man.”
“You drove me to this,” Jagmohan said,
“What did I do wrong, Bakshi? So I just
took the money that we robbed and ran
away. So I was worried about my new
wife, yes call me selfish. She was just
pregnant with my unborn child. I had
needs. It was easy for you to fight for
independence. You were a vagabond, a
rowdy who loved to bully people. You
were arrested and Azad was shot dead, I
panicked. So blame me for that.”
They had entered inside the church and
were turning to the graveyard. At the
end was an unmarked grave. Jagmohan
was leading Bakshi to the grave.
“I do not blame you for anything Jagmohan,” Bakshi said, “I understand. We
were young, we had never seen so much
money. We should thank these Britishers who made the old kings bleed. We
saw the king as human after the rule,

we saw that we could control our own
destiny. But you had to understand,
the cops could not hold me for long or
had you wished they had shot me, like
Azad?”
Jagmohan was silent.
“You know I walked right out of the jail
using nothing but a lathi and a mythology. You should have seen the fear in
the police after that. It was marvelous,”
Bakshi laughed, “Imagine my horror
when I find you missing after my return. I tortured five of them... those
Brits to divulge information about you.
I had assumed you were killed in cold
blood.”
“It was Julia who found me.” Jagmohan
continued, “In london. I had assumed
you will come chasing after me then but
for many years nothing. Nothing at all.
I had built a decent life for myself out
there. Made a few investments in the
rail roads,Indian spices company,chain
of Indian restaurants. I made something of myself.”
“You were always the business type, Jagmohan,” Bakshi said, “You always were,
yes Julia told me about it. She came
back here.” he pointed to the unmarked
grave, “said she wanted to be buried
with us here. Poor girl, as slave to those
white monsters as we were. Yes, I came
to london few years back and saw your
empire. It was magnificent.”
“Then why?” Jagmohan said, “Why did
you destroy it? Why my family?”
“See,” Bakshi said turning around,
storizen.com | August | 67

“It was nothing personal. I was in fact
proud of you. You had made something
of yourself out there but you made one
mistake...”
In a flash of a motion the walking stick
hit Jagmohan hand. There was a loud
crack as the bone broke on impact. The
gun collapsed on the ground as Jagmohan watched in horror as Bakshi hit
him on the legs and other hands.
Bakshi kicked the gun away and opened
the gravestone, it was hollow inside.
“You should have never betrayed me”
Bakshi said as he lifted Jagmohan on
his shoulders and threw him into the
hollow grave. “See when I was asking
around about you, I received this information about the informant who gave
the police my whereabouts.”
“You knew?” Jagmohan said.
“Yes and so did your family,” Bakshi
said, “I told them, right before I killed
them. Those hotels of yours, it just took
a few ounces of poison in your food and
a bunch of live rats. These God fearing Brits are scared of everything that
moves. I knew once your empire was
down and you are left alone you had

only last move left. You had to come
back and find me.”
“You left me with no choice.” Jagmohan
screamed from inside the grave.
“Always eager to finish things,” Bakshi
smiled. “I still don’t blame you Jagmohan,” Bakshi said as he pulled a spade,
“I really do not blame you. We were
young, we had never seen so much
money. It was all adrenaline and hormones but” Bakshi started filling the
grave, “you chose the wrong person to
betray.”
Bakshi sealed the grave and walked out
of the graveyard. Humming the new
tune of ‘Kadam kadam badhaye ja...’ as
he entered his house.
“Had a nice powerwalk?” asked his
daughter-in-law serving him hot cup of
tea.
“The best walk of my life.” he replied
smiling.
pis al•ler
n.
The final recourse or expedient; the last
resort.
[French : pis, worse + aller, to go.]

this time.” Her eyes gleamed as they
ushma’s eyes refused to blink after
met the eyes of her beau, clad in white
they caught a glimpse of the column in dhoti and kurta , who was ensconced in
the local newspaper which said:
the dark velvet sofa that contrasted the
“The cleanliness of the Meharkot is
off white wall.
marred by tufts of garbage that border
“Sushma, Sushma, Sushma,” he said in
the sidewalks of every lane. Majority
an attenuating pitch. ”Politics is a dirty
of its residents complain that their taps business. I know how this game works,
spray out slurry in spells. Epidemics
being an MLA myself. I don’t know who
have run their course and nothing has
will even vote for you. People know you
been done. The government is numb to as an actress of the yesteryears and now
the gripe of the citizens. Its devil may
you are shadowed by the new comers.
care attitude heralds its fall. It is high
Plus, being a woman, it is hard to get
time that the residents of Meharkot
votes.”
take the bull by the horns and elect new As Sushma sighed, her eyes rolled all
bodies for supervision area-wise. Inter- over the room adorned with expensive
ested residents who have to vision to
paintings and crystal ware. She ponbring up a change may …”
dered on the thought that her luxurious
“I have to make it to the municipal
life may have to be put to bed if she ran
board. It is my time to be in the limeout of ad offers, which would eventulight once again, Dhananjay,” she said
ally happen in the short run when her
with a vicious smile. ”Meharkot is going wrinkles became prominent. Already
to dogs, so they are electing a new body she could see a subtle web of fine lines
for governance. If I were in the munic- surrounding her eyes. As she wasn’t yet
ipality, it would mean free publicity,
married to the Dhananjay, she had no
a new job and I can mint green notes
fallback option either. On the flipside, if
again. I should stand for the elections
she were to get her hands on the

municipality it would be easy for her to
keep the ball rolling. So, she could not
afford to let Dhananjay’s words throw
cold water on her moxie.
A film runs best at the box office if it is
preceded by great trailers. At this juncture, this was the sacrosanct principle
that underlay most of Sushma’s actions.
She had to garner the attention of the
masses in the canniest way possible
if she needed their votes. As her eyes
rolled through her bank account statements that morning, her brows tightened as she was too sensitive to part
with something so dear to her in the
name of philanthropy. And then, when
she looked around the room and got a
glimpse of her overflowing wardrobe,
something struck the chord of inspiration in her.
Within an hour, Sushma was heading
down town in a car filled with her old
clothes. As the road got more and more
undulating and her car hit more bumps
her face lit up with the very thought of
approaching her destination. The roads
were strewn with litter and semi clad
urchins ran about hither and thither to
get a mere glance of the car. Hawkers
sauntered about the streets with their
big carts filled with vegetables, making
it impossible for the vehicle to proceed
at its original pace. They peeped inside
the car with a streak curiosity on their
faces. Finally, at Sushma’s behest the car
was pulled over and she got out with a
bundle of clothes in her hands. People
thronged around her like bees.
Someone tipped off the media as per
the plan and the charity session

began. It prolonged for a couple of
hours as camera men captured shots of
the donation. Finally, by evening Sushma was back at home resting her tired
feet when her attendant knocked the
door.
“Madam, someone is here to take your
interview,” he said.
There was a surge of alacrity in her
heart as Sushma got up stroking back
her hair and dabbing her face with
compact. “Let them in, “she said.
Three men walked in - one with a huge
camera and the two others with mikes
in their hands. “Madam, we are here
from CK TV, can we start now?” Sushma nodded in affirmation.
“Roll camera, action.”
“What inspired you to visit the slums?
What is the motive behind these donations?” Someone popped the first question.
“Well, I really want to help the people
from the slums. They deserve to wear
better clothes. The down town was a
horrible spectacle. The people seem to
work so hard for a simple livelihood.
The whole place bears a stench and I
found it hard to stand there for minutes. The people look starved; they need
to have good food and someone with
compassion to work on that front. Right
now I don’t have the means for all that,
so I did the least that I could.”
“Tell us about your relationship with
MLA Dhananjay Kehsav. Sources say
that he you had quite a tiff with his

wife, the bone of contention being your
alleged affair with him. Is that true?”
“Well, I am a compassionate person and
I care about people. Nothing is more
important at this point of time. I have
heard, just like you would have, that
Dhananjay’s marriage has been rocky
off late. He will decide what he wants.
As far as the allegations of the fight are
concerned, I prefer to keep mum. Can
we put this topic off for now?” said
Sushma raising her voice. Her face contorted and her pupils constricted.
“I think we are done for now,” said one
of the interviewers much to her chagrin.
“Alright. I just want well for the people,”
said Sushma.
For the next two days, Sushma used to
scan through sections of the paper hoping for news of her philanthropy to hit
the headlines. Each day her face would
sink in despair.
On the third day from the act of charity, Dhananjay stormed into her house.
“What have you told the media about
me?” Sushma gave him a befuddled
look. “Haven’t you read the article
which quoted us and said things about
our affair? I cannot hold my head high
when I walk into my office any longer,”
he yelled.
As he threw open his laptop furiously,
his bracelet jingled in the jolt. “Come
here. Sit. Read”, he said as he pulled her
forcibly by the elbow.
And then he typed “Chatpata Khabar .”
The page opened. The caption read:
“Chatpata Khabar: We serve you with
the latest news, the latest controverstorizen.com | August | 72

sies, the latest buzz and yummy masala
about Page 3 celebs hot on your plate.”
Sushma’s eyes grew wider as she
scrolled down the page. The article had
a picture of her taken during her “Act of
selflessness.” It said:
“When tinsel town meets shanty
town…
Her pretty face might have been invisible on the silver screen for the last
two years yet her affairs suffice to keep
her in limelight. Recently we spotted
yesteryear actor Sushma Agrawal on a
donation spree in downtown Meharkot.
Clad in a simple yellow saree , she was
seen offering people her old clothes that
mostly comprised Vintage party wear
and Van Heusen formal wear. Will her
branded couture really help in feeding
the starved, is a question that can be
answered only by them.
Upon being asked about her affair with
MLA Dhananjay Keshav and the recent alleged tiff with his wife she said,”
I am a compassionate person and I care
about people. Nothing is more important at this point of time. I have heard,
just like you would have, that Dhananjay’s marriage has been rocky off late.
He will decide what he wants. As far
as the allegations of the fight are concerned, I prefer to keep mum.”
It looks like someone is trying to fish in
troubled waters!
Well Sushma, we need neither Solomon’s wisdom nor Argus eyes to make
out what you are doing here. We aren’t
sure if your old clothes would help the
poor people of Meharkot but as you
said, the compassion you manifested is

sure to win the heart of Prince Charming, who you have suddenly put on the
map. Does donation of your party wear
mean an avowed adieu to Bollywood
or does it mean that you don’t fit into
those dresses anymore?
Anyhow all we have to say is that relationships like this help forgotten actresses keep themselves alive in the rat
race for fame. “
Sushma’s eyes were watery when they
met the eyes of Dhanajay who resembled a furious bull. She could feel her
heart beat accelerating at a bizarre pace.
“I only went down town to show people
that I care for them. That was for the
election, I..I mean votes,” she stuttered
in a broken voice. Gritting his teeth,
Dhananjay turned his face away. Sushma’s hands trembled as she proceeded
to the comments section.
One said, “These actresses are bimbos.
How does this one think that her old
branded clothes are of any use to the
poor people?

I’m sure that she has out grown those
clothes. That’s why she wore that voile
saree to camouflage her flab. She should
understand that her shelf life is over.”
Another said:”What a home wrecker!
These women do anything to steal a guy
and after they get bored of him they
jump on to another guy. Then they say
that they mutually decided to move on.
What’s wrong with that MLA? He is just
a standard example of those government employees who have paramorous
affairs when they should be on duty. No
wonder normal people like us struggle
for even electricity and water.”
And finally this comment was the cherry on the top: “Check out the coral
necklace she is wearing. I think that the
MLA gifted her that one. His wife wore
exactly the same necklace to a school
function last week. Either DJK availed
a buy one get one free offer on it or his
wife must check if her vault has something missing.

In her own words, Priya says, am a software developer
who dreams to create waves in the writing world. I believe that the most efficient faucet of creativity is the pen.
So here I am, with a pen in my hand, trying to use it as a
brush to paint the world around me with my imagination
and make it reality.

storizen.com | August | 73

Aisha walked in hurry as she was

almost late for her appointment. She
gave her name to the nurse in the desk,
while she was surfing the shelf to fetch
her case file, Aisha scanned the room
for the empty seat. The entire place
was strangely quiet. She glanced at the
entire room and the faces of some 50
women waiting at Dr. Kundavi, Gynecologist’s reception at a famous hospital.
Everyone was there for the same reason – They can’t get pregnant without a
doctor’s help.
No one cared to speak or even acknowledge to one another, yet having so
much in common. Everyone was sitting
in their own world, reading a magazine,
fiddling with their cell phones or adjusting their sarees and dupattas. Those
few who are accompanied by their husbands or mothers — they didn’t seem to
be in a talking mood, either.
Aisha, a 33 year old IT professional, was
there for her pregnancy treatment with
her husband Sam, who was also in the
same field. He was trying hard to hide
his nervousness and holding his wife’s

hands with hope and comfort. As the
clock ticked, Aisha sat there silently and
lost in her own thoughts.
It was 2005 May, 5 years before that day,
Aisha, a lovely, vibrant and a religious
girl, got married to Sam, the love of her
life. Happily married with her loving
husband and caring in-laws. But after
few years of marriage, what more she
or her family could ask for – a baby to
show their affection and to prove as a
symbol of their love? Or do you think is
it too much to ask for?
For every married person, however rich
and well settled they are, the question
they couldn’t escape is – ‘How many
kids do you have?’
They too did come across such phase
in their lives. But at first they weren’t
much worried as they have decided
to wait. So they both didn’t give much
urge to start a family, instead concentrating on their profession and earning
money, like any newly married couple.
2007 – As their second anniversary
passed by, they decided to start a family

and started trying for a baby. She naturally thought getting pregnant would
be as easy for her as everything else that
had been in her life. After all, when she
really wanted something and worked
hard for it, it always seemed to have
fallen in place. Few months passed by,
nothing happened. She eventually started getting tired and depressed as she
spotted the redness month by month.
Two more years passed in the blink of
eyes. Being religious, they believed that
God would bless them naturally with
the bundle of joy.
2009 – They started feeling more worried but they both didn’t show it explicitly and pretended to be happy. But
when they have lost almost all their
hopes, their family friend suggested this
hospital. And they visited Dr. Kundavi,
but after the basic tests, nothing seemed
to be wrong. She prescribed her with
Folic Acid & other hormone pills and
asked her to come for regular monthly
checkups. After several fruitless months
passed by, doctor advised them to go
through further detailed procedure and
advanced treatment.
Meanwhile directly n indirectly, their
relatives started questioning about her
fertility. Now, those talks and questions
made Aisha grew depressed. Because it
is expected from you, from the woman
when she gets married, it is an unwritten rule. With her growing depression,
Aisha became weaker and feeble day
after day. She quit her job and stopped
going out. She stayed most of the time
inside her room just to avoid talking to
people. She hid herself from the society.

She built a void around her, as she started feeling that her life has no meaning
without a child to give her love and
care.
Even though Sam was a loving and
supportive person, her own wishes and
dreams of getting conceived, made her
go down with stress. For her, nights
grew longer than ever. When her husband was asleep, she sat crying in the
bed for hours in her anguish and despair. She couldn’t sleep properly and
found difficult to concentrate on anything. That’s when his parents started
insisting him to remarry for the sake of
heir to the family, Sam felt restless and
started working for long hours simply
to stay away from home and face the
issues.
One day when he returned home late
from work, he found Aisha swallowing
sleeping pills to end her life to give a
peace of mind to everyone she loved.
He slapped her hard and hugged her
tight. As she started losing her conscious, they took her to their family
doctor immediately and gave her first
aid. Later she apologized for her madness and they both cried at their incapability.
When she recovered from it, Sam took
her and other kids in the family and
neighborhood to picnic to uplift her
mood but at the end of the day they
were both gloomy. He insisted her to
go to work again to get rid of her void.
And they waited for God to answer

their prayers someday soon.
But only later did they realize that God
will not just come down and grant their
wishes but He has provided the facility
and already showed them with the possible way through modern medicine.
It was May 2010, Aisha and Sam were
waiting outside the doctor’s cabin
clutching their test reports in her hands.
Whole room was in silence until the
nurse called for Aisha. She came back to
her senses, stood up and walked slightly tensed holding Sam’s hands towards
the doctor’s office, with their final hope
alive.
Dr. Kundavi, a very nice lady in her 50s,
smiled as they entered the room. ‘How
are you Aisha? Please have your seat...’
As they sat down, she went through
their reports for few minutes and said,
‘Everything seems to be normal but it
is diagnosed as unexplained infertility’.
She looked at both of them, ‘Now it’s
been 5 years you got married, no symp-

toms of pregnancy even after we tried
the medications n other treatment. We
tried our best to make it naturally but as
you’re getting older Aisha, I advise you
to undergo the IVF treatment.’
Aisha and Sam both were bit hesitant at
first but they have no other options to
refuse as they saw it as their only hope.
When Doctor explained about the procedure, it was like a light lit in their dull
gloomy life. They started their treatment in the following month. Aisha got
conceived. The whole family floated in
joy. And the following 9 months was
like a mixture of happiness, anxiety
and also a difficult period for her. She
was in a complete bed rest and every
month she underwent Ultrasonic Scan
test where they able to see the healthy
movement inside her womb. Finally
yeah, God has answered their prayers
by blessing the whole family with the
bundle of joy.. not one but two.. a boy
and a girl - blessing to fill their emptiness and a meaning to their life.

In her own words Meera says “I am a novice writer and an amateur poet who
loves to rhyme with words. I discovered my interest in writing and photography
only after my blog happened. I always look forward to learn something new in
life while I prefer to stay under the veil. Do visit my blog to know me more.”

storizen.com | August | 76

friend who is determined to destroy her
new life.
With a darkish blue cover and the silhouette of a woman, you expect this to
be in intense story of one woman and
her struggles in life. The presentation
and the font style of the text is quite
well done.

The blurb goes like this –

The concept is quite interesting to start
with and as the story moves ahead,
things become really gripping. The
story can be quite literally divided into
two parts. The first part deals with how
Anna suffers through a stressful marriage. Rajshri has beautifully portrayed
the stress, the troubles, the problems
and the issues a woman goes through
in a troubled marriage. You can almost
feel the pain Anna suffers.

Set in a scenic village on the outskirts of
Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala, this
is the story of the struggles of a woman in its hostile society. The journey
of Anna through her battle for freedom from an unhappy household, her
first love, a debilitating marriage and a
stressful divorce shows the reader how
difficult life is for a young woman even
in this modern era. Her remarriage is
a blessing in every way but it comes
with a curse too Anna finds an unusual

Just as Anna remarries and starts living
a happy and beautiful life, you wonder
what next is in store. And then comes
Anna’s unusual friend. Though nothing seems wrong at first, the buildup to
the climax and the climax in particular
is quite sensational. Till the finale, you
keep thinking on how its all going to
end. There’s reality, there’s fantasy and
there are emotions. It all comes across
as a heady cocktail which leaves you
wanting for more.

From education to aviation to writ-

ing, Rajshri Raajgopal has got a taste of
various avenues in life. She has written
a couple of children’s books. And this
one is her first attempt at entering the
world of adult fiction. Does it work?
Let’s check it out.

storizen.com | August | 78

The narrative is well structured and
keeps the reader interested till the end
as there are no subplots to cause any
confusion. The characters â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Anna and
her friend are beautifully portrayed.
Things seem so life like that you can
feel that you are standing next to them
when the two are talking to each other.

edited things a little bit. Though reading
all the troubles of Anna provoke empathy but somewhere, the reader may feel
that he / she wants to move to a lighter
point in the story.
All in all, quite an awesome start for Rajshri in adult fiction. Go for it!

The only negative if one could think of
it as a negative was the fact that in the
first part of the story, Rajshri could have

Aseem Rastogi is a passionate blogger, published author and an
avid lover of books. He has opinions on anything & everything
under the sun which he keeps penning on his blog.

storizen.com | August | 79

I didn’t understand the meaning, even
after reading the whole book :( ). Her
mother Radha (Biji) desperately prays
to move America to fulfill her and
Amara’s American dreams and desires
and finally one fine day, Amara’s Dua
mama opens the door of America for
them.

Finished reading One & a half wife

After unexpected rejection from her
dear cousin Riya and not so interesting
teenage life, Amara enters a suffocating
marriage which leads to a painful divorce or in biji’s language die-force :)

by Meghna Pant (Westland Books: I
wonder why Westland has changed
it’s logo!!). It’s her debut novel and her
second book “Happy Birthday” collection of short stories has been released
recently.

Is this the end of life for Amara (as she
thinks so)? Definitely not! Actually it’s a
new and beautiful start of her life, back
in so called modern India, that is going
to transform her life and persona.

One & a half wife deals with relationships, bonds and emotions and says
that change is inevitable. The story tells
about Indian immigrants who desperately want to achieve American dreams.
Do they always live their desired
dreams?

How? Go grab the book and read. It’s a
wonderful book that you’ll find hard to
put down. It’s a very well crafted story. There are well defined characters.
And the author creates a lovely imagery
through believable incidents and neat
and crisp writing style.

Amara Malhotra is a very good (Shy,
Thoughtful & Caring) Indian girl whose
future has been declared by a punditji
that she will be one & half wife (Sadly,

There’s an interesting touch of humour
also. I always smiled when I envisioned
Biji’s temple face. And her English is
really amusing!

storizen.com | August | 80

I really liked the idea of starting and
say that every book lover especially
ending the book in same pattern but on women should read this book. Highly
a different note.
recommended!
Overall, it was a fantastic read! I would

In her own words Tarang says “I’m a freelance writer.
I write poems, short stories, articles and book reviews.
Some of my works have been published in magazines like
Woman’s Era & Alive.”

I have been following her poetry online
too (A lesser known poet) and man,
has she got the talent to speak her heart
out!

Pooja Dave
Obsessed Bookaholic, Mumbai

Chacha Chaudhary:
Pavitra S Tandon
UI Designer, Pune

Jacob Hills:
By Ismita Tandon
Being an illustrator and an artist at
heart, books with interesting covers
make the cut for me. One such book
is the recently released Jacob Hills
by Ismita Tandon. Contrary to my
above statement, the cover isn’t all that
mighty, what caught my attention was
the lone path and the humongous big
bold title. Reading the prologue alone
made me read the entire book, and it
was no waste of time. Me from a civil
background, Army life has always been
a fascination - Jacob Hills is a murder
mystery within the Army - with a twist.
The third person narration is clear and
well done. Extremely interesting read!
storizen.com | August | 82

It can be safely said that the adventuristic voyages dished out by British children’s writer Enid Blyton opened up the
realms of the reading world for many of
us. However, I grew on a steadfast diet
of Pran comics that included Chacha
Chaudhary, Shrimatiji, Pinki, Billoo,
Raman and Channi Chachi!! These
indigenous cartoon strips created by the
“Father of Indian Comics”- Pran Kumar
Sharma, were my first brush with reading. The anecdotes of a sharp, wise old
man* along with his herculean & alien
sidekick Sabu, never failed to perk me
up. The combination of wisdom and
strength with a dash of humour was just
what I needed to lift my spirits after a
tiring day at school!! Needless to say,
these timeless comic strips that sent me
tumbling down the lane of imagination
& reading are my favorite part of Indian
Fiction.

Ritesh Agarwal
Freelance Writer, Kolkata

Saurabh Chawla
Business Analyst, New Delhi

I too had a love story:
By Ravinder Singh

The Taj Conspiracy:
By Manreet Sodhi Someshwar

Though some may cringe at this revelation, my favorite Indian book is
Ravinder Singh’s ‘I too had a love story’.
Granted that the writing is amateurish
and the book is not literary enough for
someone like me who thrives on classics. Yet, the novel draws you in with its
compelling narration, sucking you into
a vortex of emotions. It is the sincerity
of love, more than anything, that moves
you and you stick to the book till the
end, despite sensing what is going to
come, and feebly hoping that it never
does.
Another book which deserves a space
here is Amitav Ghosh’s ‘The Hungry
Tide’. This is the book which taught me
a lot and the one which I thoroughly
respect. Satyajit Ray’s Feluda series is
equally enchanting and Jhumpa Lahiri’s
book ‘Unaccustomed Earth,’ which I am
currently reading, is another volume
which has tugged at my heartstrings.

Being a suspense/thriller genre lover, I
have read many of Sherlock Holmes’s
novels as well as Sidney Sheldon’s. But
this time I thought of giving a try to
The Taj Conspiracy. I was totally blown
away by the mix of intriguing plot with
the history. While reading, I was totally
lost in a different world. The research
conducted on one of the Seven Wonders of the World is exemplary and
worth praising for. Reading the book
itself changed my entire viewpoint
about the mausoleum. The overall conspiracy along with the chosen locations
makes it a sure page turner. Being a
female writer, Manreet has left no stone
unturned in proving that writing Suspense/thriller is not mainly limited
to the masculine gender. I am eagerly
waiting to put my hands on the next
book of the series, The Hunt for Kohinoor by her.